Understanding Jewellery

I love this book because it’s a comprehensive intro of western jewelry with high quality pictures. It’s better than most of coffee table book.

Outside of gemology classes, this is the most informative book on gems and jewelry currently in print.

This book is beautifully illustrated as you would expect, but the real value is in the most informative text by these experts.

Excellent publication; comprehensive, enlightening, and informative.

Very informative and educational book.

very entertaining

Great Book!

Interesting history

tutto ok

The only book on Jewellery that you will need!

Usually I don't write reviews. But this book deserves the effort.To make it short, I LOVE this book. Why?It is a heavy book, offering almost 500 pages in a format that is a bit wider than DIN A4.I was able to purchase the last, 2017 edition. The book was printed first in 1989, followed up by twelve (12 !!!) reprints including 2 revised editions. I think that this fact is really showing the importance of this book. So often excellent books quickly disappear soon after in the mists of time. The book cover describes it as a reference book for sellers and collectors, and I think that this corresponds to the truth. It contains tons of wonderful color photos for an affordable price less than 50 Euro (the print of a book like this seems to be very expensive in my eyes).The book cover is speaking of about 919 colored plates. I adore these color pictures, showing a lot of breathtaking jewellery including amazing parures. You could use it as a coffee table book, just for browsing the photos. The authors, Sotheby’s experts, seem to have access to a lot of pieces that you would normally see only in a museum.And last not least, there is a lot of text information offered in this edition. The book starts with about 40 pages about studies of gemstones and their testing methods. Well, for me this is not the right topic as an introduction, but you can skip it. Proceeding on page 50, the journey begins “from the late 18th century to 1820”, offering the first gorgeous pictures.During the last weeks I bought a lot of books concerning antique jewellery. If I should recommend one book, I would like to say that you should buy this book in every case. It contains much more color photos and of course also text information in comparison to all the other books I have purchased.So here is my final statement: Definite Buy Recommendation

When I opened my parcel the first thing that came into my mind was "Wow!". Having now perused, read and just spent time over the wonderful pieces so beautifully photographed my comment remains the same. A well-written, beautifully presented book, hefty enough to contain a huge amount of expert in-depth information, not merely on the pieces chosen but also on the various Houses that created these fantastic artifacts. Not too daunting for a mere layman to read,it is complete with lovely photography (where you can actually see the detailing) documenting changes,details and innovations that have marked the passage of time and the accompanying differences in taste. I especially appreciated the linking of the various pieces and styles to the history (and not only the history of fashion)of its time. Lots to learn, lots to appreciate, an excellent book for the library of anyone interested in collecting or in jewellery design. I'd say it's a must-have, from the expert to the weekend designer who likes keeping his standards high,to the reader who appreciates the very best levels in this field. And, less importantly perhaps, but certainly very pleasantly, it continues to earn a wealth of compliments from visitors who happen to see it when I leave it on my coffee table. Very much recommended.

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